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Buyer Pro Tips: Strategies for Multiple Offers and Bidding Wars

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Has this happened to you?

You see a new listing come up on Zillow or the mobile app of your choice. The price is well within your budget so you go to the weekend Open House which is jam packed. You strategize with your Agent and put in an offer above the asking price on Monday. On Tuesday you get a Seller Multiple Counter Offer asking for your "best and final". You increase your initial offer beyond your comfort zone but unfortunately don't get the deal which goes to someone else, maybe an all cash Buyer. The next week the same dance plays out until you are priced out of the neighborhood of your choice and have to start to look elsewhere. Well you are not alone (unless you are my client who of course this doesn't happen to).

Here's some tips you might want to try.

Go To The Broker's Open House

Your Agent should be previewing new listings that meet your search criteria at the weekly Broker Open Houses. Ask if you can tag along or meet you at the ones you are interested in. You'll be able to get a read on how other Realtors are responding and some may even have their clients, your competition with them.

Make a Very Strong Offer Before the Weekend

If it is your "forever" or "dream home" consider making a very strong offer before the weekend Open Houses even if the listing agent says offers aren't being reviewed until Monday or Tuesday. Does this work? Sometimes. It really depends on whether your offer is strong enough and the Seller is willing to roll the dice that they can get a better offer after a few days of showings. If you do this, you need to have an offer expiration of 12 PM Saturday which is before the opens. Can this backfire? Definitely.

Offer Great Terms

What are great terms? No appraisal contingency, no repairs or credits, or anything else that takes the uncertainty out of the equation for the seller or accommodates their needs such as a "free leaseback".

So what am I referring to specifically.

If you are putting down 25-30% or more or just have huge cash reserves you can waive the appraisal contingency. (Proceed with caution.) The lender still needs to get an appraisal for the purpose of the loan but you are saying that you will cover any shortfall out of your pocket. Please have your agent further clarify what I am referring to with this strategy or call me for an explanation.

Often the listing agent will counter that the Buyer will accept the property "as-is". You need to further stipulate that you will not ask for any credits or repairs.

Lastly, it is common for Sellers to ask for a "lease-back" after the close of escrow. Do one better and offer either all or part of the lease period (typically no longer than 60 days) for $1.

Free Staging Offer

Cash Offers - Close Quickly

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Welcome to 90278realestate.com
Whether this is your first visit or you are returning to learn more about Redondo Beach Real Estate, welcome and thank you for visiting.

There's a million other Real Estate websites, so what are we offering that's any different?Blazing fast home searches optimized for phones, tablets and browsers.Search by MLS area, neighborhood, property type, price or other criteria.Accurate database of homes with "real" listings no advertisements.Market Reports with up to date listings, sales and properties under contract.Quick and accurate online Home Valuations. Pro Tips for Buyers and Sellers that will help you save time, money or both.Hyperlocal analysis, comments, videos and blog posts: new content constantly updated.Links to other useful Real Estate websites.
A few housekeeping points.
Prior to the most recent 2017 redesign of 90278realestate.com, this site was mostly focused on North Redondo Beach. Currently you may also find broader coverage…

REPRESENTING BUYERS & SELLERS

TRUSTED. EXPERIENCED. LOCAL.

We have worked with Ellis in both buying and selling a home and find him to be knowledgable about real estate transactions, especially in the South Bay, and a good, hard worker. We bought our home 18 mo ago when Ellis was the listing agent. As buyers, our realtor was not a good fit, and Ellis was tremendously helpful in assisting us even though it wasn't his job to do so. My husband is a professional athlete and was recently unexpectedly traded halfway across the country, which meant we needed to quickly sell our home. As such, we called Ellis to list our home because of how much he helped us when we bought it, and the really good impression he left on us. We had one weekend of open houses with multiple offers over asking price, sold our home in six days and closed on time with the first deal. The buyers' agent was a shark, looking for any and every possible issue, and trying every trick in the book to undercover negotiate, but Ellis handled all of it without letting us lose money. We've worked with other realtors, and no one compares. Ellis sat down with us, IN PERSON, multiple times to go over plans, documents, etc. He is an excellent communicator, doesn't dodge calls and texts, and keeps on top of what he says he's going to do. He is proactive, honest and overall a genuinely good guy, who is incredibly knowledgable about real estate in the South Bay. We HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend.

We found Ellis probably like a lot of potential home buyers are going to discover him. He was the best rated and reviewed agent on Zillow. We first contacted him when we were in Florida. Even though we weren't even in town yet, he was fast and responsive. After briefly describing our situation of what we are looking for over the email, we called him. As a first time home buyer, I had a lot of questions and wanted to be double sure i get the best deal possible despite my lack of experience in real estate. He gave us overall information about the area of my interest and narrowed downed potential list for us. He is very knowledgeable and available when you need him. Most importantly, once you start working with him, you will start to realize that he really genuinely wants the best for the client and does more than his required duty as an agent to help you out. While i was initially little cautious to trust him 100 percent, i've grown to trust him after seeing on multiple occasions that he doesn't mind getting assertive and sometimes almost offensive to fight on your behalf to get you a better deal. He knows the art of negotiating and realizes when to be assertive and when to play safe. It is truly a blessing to have an agent like him to fight for you and do all the heavy lifting for you to make home purchasing experience as painless as possible.